THE people of Colne used to set great store by its Co-operative Society.

So, our ‘where is it?’ picture puzzle last week, which showed the Co-op building, in Albert Road, Colne, received many readers’ stamp of approval.

First opened in 1907, did you know that it was the first department store in England to use steel reinforced concrete in its construction?

Coun Pat Howarth wrote to say she had many memories of shopping there as a child with her mum.

“The ground floor was a wondrous place with fitted wooden and glass counters and shelves full of gloves, scarves, hankies and socks.

“The wooden parquet floor was always clean and highly polished. A magnificent wide staircase led you up to the first floor.”

The store had a money/change ‘rail’ over the counters, which Pat remembers was fascinating to a small child. On the first floor was the shoe department and also outdoor clothes.

“There was a smell of linen and leather about the place that I loved. The bedding department was a big draw for me. All the linen was white and clean and smelled wonderful.

“Mum always had us five kids in ‘sensible’ shoes and we had our feet measured at the Co-op shoe department whenever we had grown out of our shoes or sandals.

“There was also a cafe/restaurant on the first floor and, once-in-a-blue-moon, we had tea there.”

Pat’s dad was a butcher at the Co-op for many years, working intermittently in the butchery department, which can be seen on the right of our photograph, as most of the staff moved around the many shops belonging to the Co-op that were dotted around Colne at that time.

She continued: “There was a superb furniture department, and a grocery department.

"In fact, the Co-op sold just about anything and everything and the staff were courteous, attentive, and polite.

"The customer was king. The staff at the Co-op were trained and it used to be a real honour to work at the Co-op.

“Father Christmas used to come to his annual grotto in the basement every year and my brothers and sisters and I used to go to see him and receive our little gifts from him.

“When Carlo Lionti opened his nightclub above the arcade, I was employed as the first receptionist and enjoyed every minute of it. “